Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes (5 April 1588-4 December 1679) was an Enlightenment philosopher from England who was one of the fathers of modern political philosophy. He championed both absolutism for the sovereign and the "social contract" between the king and the people; he believed that the Parliamentarians were too radical. Hobbes' views on a strong central government and a representative democracy would lead to the growth of liberal thought.

Biography
Thomas Hobbes was born in Westport, England on 5 April 1588, and he attended Magdalen Hall (now known as Hertford College) in Oxford. Hobbes was a prominent student, and he started educating others such as the powerful courtier William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire. Hobbes became known as royalist supporter during the English Civil War, writing a treatise defending Charles I of England and fleeing to France after the civil war ended in a Parliamentarian victory. Hobbes wrote Elements of Philosophy from 1642 to 1658, his first publication, but his most famous work was the 1651 book, Leviathan. The eponymous "Leviathan" represented a commonwealth, and the book was divided into four parts: "of man", which promoted the strong central power of the government; "of commonwealth", the process establishing the system; "of a Christian commonwealth", which proved that a Commonwealth was compatible with Christian doctrine; and "of the Kingdom of Darkness",  which claimed how necessary strong central government was for England. Hobbes, a cynic, believed that humans were unable to rule themselves, and he famously said, "Without strict order, life would be nasty, brutish, and short." However, he argued that the government must represent the people, and that people are allowed to do whatever the law does not explicitly forbid. Hobbes died in 1679 at the age of 91.